1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved trim cover assembly forming the surface of a seat for use in a vehicle such as an automobile and, more particularly, to the improvements relating to the main body and the side cover to be connected thereto of a trim cover assembly which comprises a covering material, a foam wadding and a wadding cover and also which is provided on the surface thereof with a plurality of decorative recessed grooves formed by a welder so as to extend from one of edges of the trim cover assembly to the other.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional trim cover assembly is formed by a main body together with a side cover or a gore sewn to the peripheries of the main body. In the prior art, as shown in FIG. 20, a plurality of decorative recessed grooves (A')(A') ---are formed in the main body by a high-frequncy welding machine so as to extend from one edge of the main body to the other edge and thereafter, as shown in FIG. 21, the main body is sewn by a sewing machine along the two edges thereof to form a joint portion (B') for connection with the side cover or the like. In the prior art forming operation, the trim cover assembly is formed by sewing the joint portion (B') while cutting the main body along the outer configuration thereof in a direction of arrows in FIG. 21. As illustrated in the drawings, however, since a covering material (10) is foldedly sewn in the portions thereof where the above-mentioned recessed grooves are formed, the edges of the recessed grooves are resultantly deformed, which impairs the aesthetic apperance of the trim cove assembly. In addition, since the thus-formed joint portion (B') varies in quality, it is difficult to sew the side cover or the like thereto, which is a disadvantage in the prior art trim cover assembly. By the way, the gore or side cover is connected integrally to the above-mentioned joint portion (B') by a sewing machine and a high-frequency welding machine.
In FIG. 20, reference numeral (11) designates a wadding which is formed of a foam material and (12) represents a wadding cover. The above-mentioned covering material (10), wadding (11) and wadding cover (12) are joined integrally with one another by a high-frequency welding machine or the like in the respective portions thereof where the recessed grooves are formed.
Also, in the prior art, there has been enforced a method in which the main body and the side cover of a trim cover assembly to be produced are first cut in their predetermined configurations respectively and then are integrally joined with each other by a high-frequency welding machine so as to form the trim cover assembly. This prior art forming method, indeed, is advantageous in that it is capable of joining or connecting the main body and side cover with each other simply and positively. But, in a trim cover assembly of a type that the ends of the side cover thereof must be connected with ends of the main body thereof perpendicularly to the decorative recessded grooves in the main body, the decorative recessed grooves must be previously formed in the main body before the side cover can be integrally joined with the main body. In other words, according to the above-mentioned prior art method, the ends of both of the side cover and main body must be faced in the same direction and superposed on each other to prevent the welded portions of the side cover and main body, that is, the joint portions thereof from being exposed externally. This means in a sense that electrodes used for forming the recessed groove in the main body provide obatacles to the side cover. For this reason, in the prior art method, the connection of the ends of both of the main body and side cover cannot performed in a direction perpendicular to the recessed grooves simultaneously with the formation of the recessed grooves in the main body.
In a trim cover assembly of a type that the ends of the main body and side cover thereof are to be connected to each other in parallel with the recessed grooves in the main body, however, the above-mentioned disadvantage is not found in the prior art forming method because the electrodes used for forming the decorative recessed grooves provide no obstacles to the side cover.